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A quatrain is a poem, or a stanza of a poem, consisting of 4 lines. As with the haiku we studied last week, I’m going to use the most basic examples of quatrains, and encourage you who are more advanced poets to seek out the more advanced and literary ones.

Quatrains should rhyme, but you can pick from any of several rhyme schemes. I’ll give a few examples from my poetry collection to illustrate some possibilities.

Here’s an (abcb) poem:

The golf links lie so near the millThat almost every dayThe laboring children can look outAnd see the men at play~Sarah N. Cleghorn

And here’s one that’s (aabb), by the humorist Willard Espy:

The man of thoughts profound resentsUs silly, superficial gents.We do not care to hang aroundThe man who thinks his thoughts profound.

Now for an (abab) quatrain:

When late I attempted your pity to move,What made you so deaf to my prayers?Perhaps it was right to dissemble your love,But why did you kick me downstairs?~Isaac Bickerstaff

And finally, an (abba) one:

In spring, a breeze blows from the west;A breath as gentle as a sigh;And with it, soft tears from the sky;Relief at passing winter's test.~Kevin McKinney

Notice that all of these are complete poems, mostly with a little “punch” at the end.

Like the haiku, 4-line quatrains are too short for Challenge entries, but there are several reasons for mastering the form:

1. It will give you a chance to practice the skills of rhyme and meter. If you’re not sure that your quatrain has a consistent meter, try counting the syllables in each line, and see if there’s a pattern. Then take it one step further, and see if there’s a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Another way of making sure you’ve got the meter down pat is to select a four-line hymn (like “Amazing Grace” or “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”) and to write a poem that can be sung to that tune.

2. As I mentioned above, many longer poems are made up of a series of quatrains. So if you can write one quatrain with satisfying rhyme and meter, you should be able to write a longer poem.

3. It’s a way to practice finding just the right word: in such a short form, you don’t want to have awkward or forced word constructions. You’ve got to make your point quickly and well.

4. Advanced poets—pick a literary term (metaphor, alliteration, imagery, irony…) and work on working it into a quatrain.

In last week’s lesson, I suggested that you might use haiku in the Challenge by writing them in a series (and someone did that for the last topic!), by having a character read one or write one, or by using a haiku to start or finish a devotional. You could do all of those same things with a quatrain. Can you think of other ways that a quatrain could be incorporated into a Writing Challenge entry?

Homework: Write a quatrain.

That’s easy enough, so I’d also encourage you to add your own comments, observations, questions, favorite quatrains from literature or from your previous writings…

It’s always my intention to respond to every post…I’ll try to get to yours as soon as possible!

Here’s my go at it. As far as comments, I found it difficult getting away from the structure and formality of the Haiku. The quatrain seems to allow for more freedom of movement (meter) and word length, tending me to wander and feel a bit floppy.

I just noticed something. Do the rhyming lines have to be both either singular or plural? If so, I flubbed this one.

Loren, your rhymes are fine. There are some rhyme "purists" who would insist on exact rhymes every single time, but I am most definitely not one of them.

I think, however, that maybe I should have dealt more with meter, since quatrains usually have a fairly strict pattern of meter. And since Stephanie also asked, I'll do a quick mini-lesson on meter in my following post.

In some forms of poetry, it's imortant to have a regular METER pattern as well as a regular RHYME pattern.

Here's a familiar hymn, with the meter exaggerated for effect:

a MA zing GRACE how SWEET the SOUNDthat SAVED a WRETCH like MEi ONCE was LOST but NOW am FOUNDwas BLIND but NOW i SEE

There are two things you can observe:

1. The pattern of syllables--in this case, there are (8,6,8,6), and2. The pattern of STRESSED and unstressed syllables--in this case, they alternate.

Now, look at this familiar Christmas carol:

a WAY in a MAN ger no CRIB for a BEDthe LIT tle lord JE sus laid DOWN his sweet HEADthe STARS in the SKY look DOWN where he LAYthe LIT tle lord JE sus a SLEEP in the HAY

This one has a very different pattern, but it's still a definite pattern:

1. 11 syllables per line (the 3rd line has 10 when spoken, but 11 when sung), and2. a pattern of STRESSED, unstressed, unstressed (with a "pick-up" syllable in the beginning)

So your quatrain should be the same way, and that's why I suggested seeing if you could sing it to a familiar tune. But even if you're not a singer...try saying it aloud, and REALLY EXAGGERATE the stressed syllables. Write down the pattern. If there's NO pattern, your poem needs tweaking.

I am shaken and weak
I feel the darkness reaching around
I can almost not speak
I shall no longer hear any sound

Luke 12
11When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."

I am shaken and weakI feel the darkness reaching aroundI can almost not speakI shall no longer hear any sound

Hi, Jer--

It's a great first attempt! You've got an (abab) rhyme pattern (weak, around, speak, sound) in a 4-line poem.

I think the meter could use a little tweak (I'll get to that in a minute), and I'm not sure that it works as a complete poem. There are too many unanswered questions: why are you in this condition? what happened? can it be fixed? So it seems more like the beginning of a longer poem, perhaps written in several quatrains--and that's fine.

Now, about the meter. If you didn't read my post in red, above, make sure you do that. If I count the syllables of your quatrain, I get (6,9,6,9)--great!

But when I look at the stressed and unstressed syllalbles, I get something like this:

i am SHA ken and WEAK
i feel the DARK ness REACH ing a ROUND
i can AL most not SPEAK
i shall NO long er HEAR an y SOUND

The problem is with lines 2 and 4, which "stumble" a bit, rhythmically.

Usually, when a quatrain has a long line and a short line, the long lines are 1 and 3, and the short ones are 2 and 4.

Care to try again? I'm very intrigued by this one, and would love to see it polished up...it's moody and interesting!